What Information Marketers Should Know About Merchant Accounts
If you’re involved in marketing information products on-line then there’s no disputing the need for you to accept credit cards in order to increase your overall sales. Typically in a retail environment your sales will increase anywhere from 15 to 40% when you have the ability to accept credit cards. This article is part 1 in a series of what information marketers should know about merchant accounts.
Visa and MasterCard account for over 90% of all credit card transactions, so the acceptance of those two card types is mandatory. Amex and Discover are the other two significant players, but account for only 5-7% of the market. If you’re selling higher priced information products acceptance of Amex is highly recommended.
There are four primary components involved in the processing of credit cards. The first is the actual card issuing entity, be it Visa, MasterCard, or other. The second is the company that sets you up to be able to accept credit cards, which is called the Merchant Account Provider. The third component needed for online processing of cards is a payment gateway, such as Authorize.net or Plug
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